Mariners deep-sixed by Rangers

ARLINGTON, Texas — After five straight losses to hit the nadir of their season, the Mariners were due for an outpouring on the field Tuesday.

They were hoping to have it in the form of run production, but they had to settle for emotion — and it poured from a most unlikely place.

As if Queen Anne Hill had erupted instead of Mount St. Helens, Raul Ibanez tore off his helmet and then a piece of umpire Paul Nauert's hide after what appeared to be a questionable called third strike in the first inning.

Run production?

Not even after Ibanez's first career ejection were his teammates uplifted to victory, losing for the sixth straight time, 6-4, to the Rangers, and tumbling to a season-low 10 games below .500.

Ibanez said he wasn't lonely in the clubhouse.

"There were a couple of guys in here, but you want to be out there on the field," he said. "I couldn't believe it was that early in the game and I was out of it already."

The Mariners' left fielder, who was replaced by Willie Bloomquist, had to sit and watch his team reach a pace after 54 games, one-third of the season, to finish with 66 wins.

Nauert had a tough game the whole way, especially toward Seattle.

He seemed to miss a third strike to the Rangers' Mark DeRosa just prior to Brad Wilkerson's decisive grand slam in the third.

He ended the game with a called strike on Carl Everett, who was jawing at him as the teams walked off the field.

Replays showed the breaking ball from closer Akinori Otsuka seemed to be outside. Everett said, "He told me it was down the middle."

Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said, "We didn't agree with all the calls. But we can sit all day and talk about umpires, and it doesn't do me or the ballclub any good."

For a sixth straight game the ballclub didn't do itself any good, anyway.

The failure to score came despite a lineup shakeup by Hargrove in which Adrian Beltre was moved from No. 6 to No. 2 and Jose Lopez from 2 to No. 3.

However, not 10 hits, nor four errors by Texas, could overcome Gil Meche's poor third inning nor a miserable 1-for-15 effort with runners in scoring position. The Mariners are 7 for 51 (.137) in such situations during the 0-5 trip.

"After the way I pitched the first and second, I thought this was a night I may not give up a run," said Meche, who pitched well in four of his previous five starts, winning three of them. "Then I started missing my spots and had bad location on a fastball to [Michael] Young, and then hung a change to Wilkerson."

Young hit a two-run homer that cut an early lead to 3-2, and Wilkerson smacked a 3-2 changeup that missed a low target by 1 ½ feet for the fifth grand slam allowed by Seattle this month and a 6-3 lead Texas would not relinquish.

The new batting order, which is likely to stay in place for some time, did produce scoring chances.

Ichiro and Beltre led off the game with singles. Lopez moved them over with an infield out and then Nauert believed he saw a third strike on Ibanez.

"I thought the ball was down," Ibanez said. "I knew it would be a two-seamer and when it came back over the plate I thought it was late."

Ibanez tossed his helmet and bat, and Nauert took no action, which indicated he was not sure. But Ibanez kept yelling from the bench and got thumbed, charged onto the field and got in the umpire's face.

"It was such an important pitch," Ibanez said. "I don't remember what I said, I was beyond angry. It was probably a culmination of a lot of things we've been going through. My only regret is the language I used, with kids in the stands and people watching on TV. But I still believe I was right."

The Mariners scored two runs in the inning, one on a passed ball, one on an Everett single. They had the bases loaded with one gone in the second inning, and Texas starter Kevin Millwood escaped when Beltre hammered a grounder for a 4-6-3 double play.

The Mariners took a 3-0 lead in the third inning when Bloomquist doubled and went to third on a wild pitch and scored when catcher Gerald Laird's throw hit Everett's bat as he stood in the batter's box.

Unlike the series at Minnesota, the Mariners ran the bases without major incident, although Everett cost them a run when he didn't go to third on an error in the third inning. Unlike Monday, when they were shut out by the Rangers, they hit.

They just found another way to lose.

Bob Finnigan: 206-464-8276 or bfinnigan@seattletimes.com